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Warhammer on the Cheap??


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Entirely the wrong time of year but typically in December GW release a few 'army boxes'.  These have historically been fantastic deals getting up to 2x retail value in the boxes for the price.  In a similar vein the 'getting started' boxes usually offer very good value starting points too.

 

People have already pointed out that going via online retailers can get you 20% off and if you're prepared to hunt around on eBay/facebook market you can get even better deals. I recently picked up £200 worth of Kharadron stuff for £110 with the bonus of it being built & mold-lines removed and even came with extra skyhooks on the arkanauts.

 

Ultimately it's down to finding an army type which you like best and then from within that having a shop around.  

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Maybe pick an army with a limited color palette. Paints may not seem expensive, but they will when you have multiple colors (with accompanying shades, highlight colors, etc.)

Basically, khorne daemons, nurgle daemons, stormcast, (etc.).

Ignore this if you are a 40K player, and already have loads of paints.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/17/2017 at 2:03 AM, Redking said:

This is definitely not a cheap hobby, but there are ways to save money.  My first suggestion would be to choose an army that you like the looks of and next is how it plays.  If you find something that you enjoy looking at and are having fun painting, you will eventually learn how to play it and have fun.

Units are typically prince based on their roles.  Elites are going to be more expensive than battleline.  Plus you usually get larger units of battleline than elites.

After you have decided on an army, look to see if they have a Start Collecting.  These bundles will give you a great discount and as mentioned above some can even be doubled to create an entire army.  If you decide on Khorne or Stormcast, you also have the starter set to give you a lot of units.  Get a starter set, trade the half you don't want, and then buy a SC.  This will get you over 1K and close to 1500.

For more versatility, go Daemons.  You can play your army in AoS and 40k.

Good luck and check out the FS/Trading forum.

4

What do you mean by not a cheap hobby?

Wargaming, in general, isn't that bad compared to others.\

PC gaming will cost you around 800 bucks (gaming pc, monitor, keyboard, mouse maybe even a table)

For that money, you could easily build 2 2k armies if you are smart about.

Console gaming is around 400 bucks.

FIshing will cost you around 100 bucks, and for that money you can paint a start collecting box like beastclaw raiders, which gives you 800 points.

Just because GW is crazy overpriced doesn't mean you have to buy from them.

I found a starter AoS box for 60 euros which is a crazy discount.

Many people think that just because GW makes the product you have to buy from them

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5 hours ago, PowerCreep said:

What do you mean by not a cheap hobby?

Wargaming, in general, isn't that bad compared to others.\

PC gaming will cost you around 800 bucks (gaming pc, monitor, keyboard, mouse maybe even a table)

For that money, you could easily build 2 2k armies if you are smart about.

Console gaming is around 400 bucks.

FIshing will cost you around 100 bucks, and for that money you can paint a start collecting box like beastclaw raiders, which gives you 800 points.

Just because GW is crazy overpriced doesn't mean you have to buy from them.

I found a starter AoS box for 60 euros which is a crazy discount.

Many people think that just because GW makes the product you have to buy from them

I mean exactly what I said, it is not a cheap hobby.  It's relative to what you can afford.  You can easily compare just about any expensive hobby to another.  "Well drag racing isn't as expensive as rebuilding WWII aircraft to fly in airshows."  Extreme example, of course.

If you read the OP's question, it sounds like he might be in high school or college and on a strict budget.  Back in high school, my friends and I considered getting into 3rd edition WFB.  However, when we figured out the cost we decided it was better to buy a couple of extra D&D books.  I didn't get into Warhammer until 5e fantasy/2e 40k when I had a real job and could properly afford the hobby.

Beastclaw Raiders is a great deal, but if you don't like the models you will need to spend more.  In addition to paints, brushes, and other hobby materials.

I don't necessarily think GW is overpriced and I feel like I get value from getting to paint their beautiful models.  I do believe it is well known that many stores offer a discount, but I generally buy from brick and mortar to support the gaming community.

All that being said, there are ways to reduce the cost of the hobby as I and others posted.  GW's bundles or picking up a used army is a great way to get started.  It's also nice that with AoS, you don't have to buy a rulebook and codex to play.

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On 7/17/2017 at 6:48 AM, stato said:

Ive yet to find anything (in decent condition) second hand that was cheaper than...

Seriously. My local gaming space has 25% off models, and similar on books.  Most online places are at least 15% if not more. Buying in GW stores is great for odd things and impulse purchases, but if you want to buy a few things or a whole army, there are much better places to buy.

Local stores are not allowed to sell at 25% anymore, there is a cap at 15%? maybe 20% - I forget. But online you can get boxes of stuff pretty cheap. eBay is your best friend for cheap warhammer.

You can buy alternative models, but since you can't use them in GW stores, or pretty much any event now, you might be shooting yourself in the foot. Plus GW models just look better and are higher quality.

On Ebay you can get a BCR starter for about $70, that is hands down the cheapest way into the hobby, but any start collecting box is going to be a good value and get you well on your way to 1000 points, so pick your favorite and just go with it. The other cheapest point of entry is to split the starter set or go with Thunder & blood if you want to go super cheap. If you don't like stormcast/bloodbound, then Spire of Dawn is another great point of entry. If you don't have anyone to split it with, ebay will split it for you.

You will likely have to buy a normal box at some time, but note that the prices are deceiving. If you buy a box of skeletons, plaguebearers, etc, they come with a ton of extra bits. If you look on ebay you can often get more bodies for cheap, then you already have lots of extra heads and arms, etc to build more for cheap. 

If you want to play and enjoy warhammer, you need some good looking models. (if you don't care about that, find some items around the house to use as proxies and spend $0).

The easiest way to get painted is to do this:

A. Buy a colored rattlecan. Brown is usually a good choice. Spray all your models one color.
B. Buy a $7 bottle of Agrax Earthshade, and lather it over your base color.
C. Pick up one of the new mini paint bundles. Add some highlight colors. Lather some agrax over your highlights. 
= At this point your models are likely tabletop standard. 

Also note you aren't going to make it very far in warhammer without some kind of plastic glue (also known as Plastic Weld / Plastic Cement)

You can skip a few steps and get more for your money by purchasing an army lot on ebay. You will likely want to spend around $300, but you get a great value, and you can just put it back up on ebay if you dont want it anymore.

If you know the exact army you want to start we can give more specific feedback on what you will want to get and the cheapest way to go about it.

I know I said a lot about eBay but, if you plan to play at a store, spend a few extra bucks and support them instead.

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You shouldn't overlook how many additional things you may need / want to buy when first getting into the hobby that I suspect more established hobbiests have already purchased and quite possibly overlook. Clippers for getting your models off sprues, the mold line tool for cleaning them up and an xacto knife are almost necessities for me, at which point you'll want a cutting board, possibly some files, some basing materials, non-plastic glue to stick the basing down and on and on. 

Admittedly you don't have to do all of these things, you could use a hobby knife and a chopping board from the kitchen for most of it, but anything that makes your life a little easier in the early stages and the capacity to make mistakes that you can learn from and then (often financially) correct, has been really important for my own personal growth.

Likewise for paint schemes. The more experienced of you can probably pick out a paint scheme and the 10+ colours and washes they'll need to achieve it, I'll probably buy double that and then end up not using half of them (I genuinely thought that Incubi Darkness was purple...). Sure I'll use them in the future (Incubi Darkness is a brilliant colour), but if I was on a very strict budget, then this might be a mistake that I could not afford to make.

Not everyone will approach this in the way that I have, but, from my own personal experience and from the spreadsheet where I have literally recorded all of my spending on the hobby, I can tell you that I have spent one third of all of my money, in the first seven months, on things that were not models or paints.

I do not say this to put a new hobbiest off, I'm having an absolute blast, I'm just pointing out some slightly hidden expense that I certainly did not anticipate.

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20 hours ago, Redking said:

I mean exactly what I said, it is not a cheap hobby.  It's relative to what you can afford.  You can easily compare just about any expensive hobby to another.  "Well drag racing isn't as expensive as rebuilding WWII aircraft to fly in airshows."  Extreme example, of course.

If you read the OP's question, it sounds like he might be in high school or college and on a strict budget.  Back in high school, my friends and I considered getting into 3rd edition WFB.  However, when we figured out the cost we decided it was better to buy a couple of extra D&D books.  I didn't get into Warhammer until 5e fantasy/2e 40k when I had a real job and could properly afford the hobby.

Beastclaw Raiders is a great deal, but if you don't like the models you will need to spend more.  In addition to paints, brushes, and other hobby materials.

I don't necessarily think GW is overpriced and I feel like I get value from getting to paint their beautiful models.  I do believe it is well known that many stores offer a discount, but I generally buy from brick and mortar to support the gaming community.

All that being said, there are ways to reduce the cost of the hobby as I and others posted.  GW's bundles or picking up a used army is a great way to get started.  It's also nice that with AoS, you don't have to buy a rulebook and codex to play.

I agree with you, the point I wanted to make is that you could easily get into AoS with 100 euros if you dont buy from GW (i found starter set for both armies at 66 euros)

He can easily sell the half he doesnt like and buy something to get to 1000 points.

Also, i wanted to make a point that compared to other hobbies for teenagers like myself (video games, even consoles cost way more than a 1000 point army even with all of the rulebooks)

But i also accept that your judgment is more valid then yours cuz im just a teen and I haven't even chosen my first army xD

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20 hours ago, Redking said:

I mean exactly what I said, it is not a cheap hobby.  It's relative to what you can afford.  You can easily compare just about any expensive hobby to another.  "Well drag racing isn't as expensive as rebuilding WWII aircraft to fly in airshows."  Extreme example, of course.

If you read the OP's question, it sounds like he might be in high school or college and on a strict budget.  Back in high school, my friends and I considered getting into 3rd edition WFB.  However, when we figured out the cost we decided it was better to buy a couple of extra D&D books.  I didn't get into Warhammer until 5e fantasy/2e 40k when I had a real job and could properly afford the hobby.

Beastclaw Raiders is a great deal, but if you don't like the models you will need to spend more.  In addition to paints, brushes, and other hobby materials.

I don't necessarily think GW is overpriced and I feel like I get value from getting to paint their beautiful models.  I do believe it is well known that many stores offer a discount, but I generally buy from brick and mortar to support the gaming community.

All that being said, there are ways to reduce the cost of the hobby as I and others posted.  GW's bundles or picking up a used army is a great way to get started.  It's also nice that with AoS, you don't have to buy a rulebook and codex to play.

Also what army do you play?I think I will go (after GH2 settles so around october) with khorne as i can get starter box plus something else and easily gpp tp 1000 points.

If you paly khorne Is it good to get a bloodthirster or start collecting box to go for 1k?

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1 hour ago, PowerCreep said:

Also what army do you play?I think I will go (after GH2 settles so around october) with khorne as i can get starter box plus something else and easily gpp tp 1000 points.

If you paly khorne Is it good to get a bloodthirster or start collecting box to go for 1k?

I have too many armies as I believe I have painters ADD:) and I have more time to paint than to play.  I have Khorne Bloodbound, which I really like.  I do have a Bloodthirster, but haven't used him yet.  I'm waiting to field him with either straight daemons or a mix, but I haven't built my daemon start collecting.  For Khorne, I would suggest get the half of the starter box, then the start Bloodbound collecting, then either another box of blood warriors or the skirmish.  If you go daemons, you'll need a lot of Bloodletters (2-3 30 strong units).  That's why I haven't went that route yet, I would either get distracted building and painting them or not do them justice by rushing the painting.

I also have small (1-1.5K) armies of Ironjawz, Disciples of Tzeentch, Sylvaneth, and I just finished painting my first 1K of Kharadron Overlords.  My son and I have also been slowly painting a bunch of Skaven that I've had lying around for a few years.  However, Khorne has always been my favorite in terms of story and looks.  If they ever update the 40k Berserkers, I'll be drawn there.

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14 minutes ago, Redking said:

I have too many armies as I believe I have painters ADD:) and I have more time to paint than to play.  I have Khorne Bloodbound, which I really like.  I do have a Bloodthirster, but haven't used him yet.  I'm waiting to field him with either straight daemons or a mix, but I haven't built my daemon start collecting.  For Khorne, I would suggest get the half of the starter box, then the start Bloodbound collecting, then either another box of blood warriors or the skirmish.  If you go daemons, you'll need a lot of Bloodletters (2-3 30 strong units).  That's why I haven't went that route yet, I would either get distracted building and painting them or not do them justice by rushing the painting.

I also have small (1-1.5K) armies of Ironjawz, Disciples of Tzeentch, Sylvaneth, and I just finished painting my first 1K of Kharadron Overlords.  My son and I have also been slowly painting a bunch of Skaven that I've had lying around for a few years.  However, Khorne has always been my favorite in terms of story and looks.  If they ever update the 40k Berserkers, I'll be drawn there.

Well I see your ejoying the hobby :)

I know it's probs not the best choice, but bloodthirster looks AMAZING XD.

If it's not too much, could you send me a picture of your bloodthirster beside your hand.

I am worried about size

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Only thing I would add that hasn't been beaten to death already by others is Facebook. Most areas have a buy/sell page if there is a gaming group around.

 

I know in Canada a bunch of cities have the Black Market. I buy/sell a bunch of stuff off the 'Calgary Black Market' group.

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Btw, I would like to ask you something. Do you know of any good online retail store with Games Workshop stuff that you would like to recommend? Thanks for the advice! Also, if there is any other topic where this question would be more appropriate please let me know.

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Also what army do you play?I think I will go (after GH2 settles so around october) with khorne as i can get starter box plus something else and easily gpp tp 1000 points.
If you paly khorne Is it good to get a bloodthirster or start collecting box to go for 1k?


If you're just starting out, I would recommend using the "Path To Glory" warband tables to create your force.

A Bloodthirster is an available Champion choice. They get 2 followers.

But the Start collecting box is also a good option.

More importantly would be to determine if you're aiming for a primarily Daemon or Mortal force.
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4 hours ago, Rev said:

Btw, I would like to ask you something. Do you know of any good online retail store with Games Workshop stuff that you would like to recommend? Thanks for the advice! Also, if there is any other topic where this question would be more appropriate please let me know.

Depends on where you live.  In the US, check out Miniature Market, The Warstore, or Dice Head.  There are probably others, but I have purchased from these.

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1 hour ago, Redking said:

Depends on where you live.  In the US, check out Miniature Market, The Warstore, or Dice Head.  There are probably others, but I have purchased from these.

Thank you Redking! I live in California actually, and will definitely check these.

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